Danny Green Rips Patrick Beverley: 'You Ain't Playing No F--king Defense out There'
May 18, 2022
Philadelphia 76ers guard Danny Green isn't sure the Minnesota Timberwolves' Patrick Beverley has a leg to stand on with his criticism of Chris Paul's defense.
Beverley took shots at Paul after the Phoenix Suns were crushed by the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series, saying the 12-time All-Star "literally can't guard."
Green provided his take on those remarks on NBC Sports Philadelphia's Inside the Green Room.
"People target you too, Pat Bev. You ain't playing no f--king defense out there," Green said. "You ain't stopping Luka [Doncic]. It's time and time again I see Luka call your ass 'little man' and 'he's too f--king small' and go right at you every chance he got. When you play Luka you're a cone, too. How would you like that?"
NBC Sports Philadelphia @NBCSPhillyDanny Green heard Pat Bev go off on Chris Paul, and he has some thoughts ππ³<br><br>Hear the full convo on a new π ππ»ππΆπ±π² ππ΅π² ππΏπ²π²π» π₯πΌπΌπΊ with <a href="https://twitter.com/DGreen_14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DGreen_14</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HarrisonSanford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HarrisonSanford</a> Saturday at 10 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia! <a href="https://t.co/kdY1JVu5Dy">pic.twitter.com/kdY1JVu5Dy</a>
The three-time NBA champion added he believes Beverley took advantage of a situation on national television (the comments came on ESPN's Get Up) to deliver unprovoked jabs at Paul.
"I think [Beverley] just used that platform because he has an issue with Chris, and he used it as a personal vendetta to take out a lot of his anger on the set at that moment," Green said. "I thought it was unfair to Chris, and I'm sure a lot of people felt the same, a lot of guys in the league."
Green's comments didn't go unnoticed by Beverley:
It's a unique situation because all three players (Green, Beverley and Paul) have some defensive accolades on their resume.
Paul is a seven-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection. He also earned two appearances on the All-Defensive Second Team, but none of those nine honors have come since 2016-17.
Beverley was voted to the first team once and second team twice, and Green also made the second team on one occasion.
Here's how they performed on that end of the floor in 2021-22, per FiveThirtyEight's defensive RAPTOR metric: Beverley (+1.9), Green (+1.3) and Paul (-0.4).
So perhaps the Suns star isn't the defender he was in his prime. That said, it's probably also unfair to expect a shutdown performance from Paul (6'0'', 175 pounds and 37 years old) against Doncic (6'7'', 230 pounds and 23 years old).
One thing's for sure: Paul and Beverley are among the NBA's most fiery competitors, and the comments are going to add ample intrigue to their head-to-head battles next season.
Based on Green's remarks, there may be other players looking to take on Beverley, too.